ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the different ways in which critical life writing projects have been approached and the methodological questions that arise within these projects when different modes of inquiry are used. It provides researchers with tools to carry out life writing projects by suggesting ways to conduct a project from start to finish. Early biographical writings described character traits and their influences on leadership and served to provide role models for readers to emulate or as warnings of what brought about failure. Life writers often engage with archived materials such as: sketchbooks; photographs; videos; journals and diaries. Collective biography is an innovative method of life writing, originating in feminist research in the work of Haug and developing and growing over time. Educational biography is a form of life writing that focuses on the biographies of educators, the educative storylines of any individual or group, or the various innovative pedagogies that make use of life writing.
